Day 85, Raphine to Charlottesville, VA

Miles – 56

Miles From Start/To Finish – 4,019/145

Ave Riding Speed – 3-28 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 7.25

Weather – Mostly Cloudy and 88

Our alarms went off at 5:30am. We left the window shades open for the night to let in a little light to work as a night light in our dark room. Whoever thought to add those back-lit electrical outlets for the hotel bathrooms was a genius. The best ideas are usually the simplest. Our room last night didn’t happen to have one, thus the open shade overlooking Interstate 81.

The forecast last night was for a good amount of rain into the morning hours. As I peered through the window of our dark room this morning, I could see the rain coming down pretty hard by the headlights of the semi-trucks cruising down the freeway. Kim woke up and I said that I checked the weather forecast this morning and I think we delay our start time till 8 or 9am and see if the rain pass through and give us a good potential for staying dry today.

We took our time getting ready. I made a coffee run to the hotel lobby to get us going for the day. We showered and put on our damp riding clothes. Our wet clothes from the previous days ride never seem to dry due to the high humidity. Kim made another coffee run and picked up our “bag lunch” breakfast. I had a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich and Kim had some oatmeal. We were ready to go, but it continued to rain, so we relaxed and watched the weather channel for a bit. Soon the rain subsided near us, but I could still see that it was raining over the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west of us.

We figured it was time to go and strapped our rain gear on the top of our rear saddlebags and exited the front door at 8:30am. The pavement was wet and puddles in every low spot. Kim was in the lead riding the white line while I crouched into the driving lane a little to give her some room and to make sure the vehicles coming up behind us could see there are 2 riders. We always have our blinking lights going and for the last week we’ve been wearing our florescent yellow vests because we been riding main roads with heavy traffic.

We once again started our day riding the wet pavement of Hwy 11/Lee Hwy going north. 10 miles into the day we headed east on Hwy 340 and rode 6-miles into Stuarts Draft and stopped at a convenience store for a potty break and Gatorade. As I was watching our bikes an older gentleman walked up to me and asked how far we’re riding today. I told him we’re heading to Charlottesville. Kim walked out of the store about then and I introduced ourselves and we met Gene. He was the kind of guy just happy to stand and chat, so we did.  Gene said we’ve got one pass to ride over the Blue Ridge Mountains and it’s mostly downhill from there. I told Gene how much we’ve enjoyed riding through mostly rural America and all the really cool people we’ve met along the way. We departed and Gene told us to be safe.

I had to look up why the town was called Stuarts Draft. Stuart is the name of the person, Thomas Stuart, who purchased the land of the town back in 1749 and Draft was a common term for a river crossing.

Kim continued in the lead, as she feels safer up front on these busy roads as we pedaled another 9-miles into Waynesboro. We continued through town and noticed a bicycle shop on the north side of the road and pulled in. Kim’s bike has been making some noise and I can’t figure out what it is. They were open but the bike mechanic has Wednesday’s off. The manager of Rockfish Gap Outfitters let us use his tire pump and I freshened up our tire pressure. While we were there Kim picked up some electrolyte Nunn Tabs. When we were ready to leave, we got to chatting with a young lady who had hiked the 1.300 miles of the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. She said she did 1,000 miles of all at once. Pretty amazing. She also said we’ve got a few miles ride up to the top of the pass over the Blue Ridge Mountains once we get back on the road.

Coming out of Waynesboro on Hwy 250 going east, the ride up had no shoulder and traffic was pretty heavy. Riding slow on an incline makes it difficult to ride straight, so we pushed our bikes in the steep areas. Once we got to the top we stopped at a scenic overlook. The view was spectacular of the valley below and the rain and clouds covering the mountains as the backdrop.

The ride down the backside of the Afton Pass was fairly steep and we had to concentrate on the white line while pumping our breaks for a few miles. The sun was now out and the pavement was dry. We rode another 20 miles into the heart of Charlottesville and directly through the University of Virginia campus. It was pretty spectacular and the town looks like it was built around it.

We only had about 7-miles to go to get to our destination, the Comfort Inn, on the east side of Charlottesville, but it must have taken us an hour to find our way through town and across the Rivanna River. So funny how these hotels seem to be on top of a hill lately and give us one last climb before ending the day. Today was no exception.

There aren’t any places to eat near us so Kim got on-line and signed up with a delivery company and we ordered from Mana Fresh. We order “bowls” of various cooked vegetables and meat. It was very good.

The weather forecast tomorrow looks good. We’ve been monitoring the flow from the storms coming through the Gulf and the flash flooding that is more common out here than back home.

The picture is from the top of Afton Pass overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains.